I was actually thinking of Cataclysm, their introduction, when I wrote that. If I remember right, the bit about trolls being directed to the Cenarion Circle was a thing there, so it happened long before Legion. Same with how worgen druids went there to learn how to use their new powers the right way.
That’s what I was getting at - that if you weren’t taught how to do it like the night elves did, then you weren’t as effective and in tune with nature as you were supposed to be.
Which I hate, but that’s what I thought was the game’s intent all along. It wasn’t until BFA that the game even tried to somewhat deviate, and they still had to have the Lun’alai group to explain moonkin form as well as tease that the other Zandalari were settling for less.
To me, the real problem with druids as a class is how specifically they’re tied to night elves from the start. Cataclysm only worsened this by leaning harder into astral magic than balance previously had, heightening that connection. They’re not like priests where shadow was previously a catch-all “spooky” group before being rethemed into void magic. Druid was explicitly nelf and made moreso later on.
This. Only the Tauren and Night Elves are Elune focused Druids. Few Trolls and even fewer Gilneans and Kul Turan would even give Elune a first look let alone second.
Because Elune had no part in their origin. She literally is not a creator power, she can’t create a single thing. What she can do and does is modify. She created the first elves by tinkering with trolls and she’s done the same to animals by making them guardians of chosen spots. Elves are the only instance of her tinkering with a sentient
There is a common misconception here that I feel needs to be cleared up.
We know that Druidism as we know it is tied in some large part to the Emerald Dream. It is the focal point of their power. Druids establish a link to the Dream and from it gain their abilities.
Night elves/Tauren: Cenarius teachings
Worgen: enhanced through the Wolf spirit/pack form
Trolls: through Wild gods/Loa who are connected to the Dream themselves.
Kul Tiran: From the Thronspeakers who practiced ancient Druidic magic, origins of how not clearly shown.
We later learn that Elune is considered the shaper of the Emerald Dream, with Ysera even being called her “creation” by the winter queen.
There is of course probably more to it all but Elune very much seems to be the representation of Life and light and at the centre of all things natural, so would indeed have a focus point for Druids.
I mean, I guess they’re her favorite. Sure. But within the context of that comment, she claims them her favorite while she laments accidentally condemning a non-trivial portion of their population to actual hell.
Kind of like dropping her “favorite ring” down the drain in the bathroom sink but not having the wherewithal to go grab a wrench and check the trap.
Elune needs a flat across the board nerf. No one faction’s (much less one race’s) god needs to stand above all others. It’s ridiculous that Zandalari would have Elune’s mark tattooed on them, or wear it as a necklace.
Unless I missed something Elune isn’t considered the shaper of the Dream. Like, at all. Eonar created the Emerald Dream or at least was the primary architect. Elune is a god but she has nothing to do with Druidism as a whole, just happens to be the most revered god of the race that both has probably the oldest druid order and the first mortal druid.
Ysera isn’t called Elune’s creation. Again unless I missed something she was called Elune’s “pet” by the Winter Queen.
Lastly Eonar is the representation of Life and Nature. She empowered Ysera and Alexstraza and Freya with their authority and powers.
However Elune’s connection to Druidism is through her…son(I think?) Cenarius who taught Druidism to Malfurion, the mentioned first mortal druid. But that doesn’t mean she should be the focus of Druidism as a whole. If anything Eonar should be that focus.
The story has been adjusting over time. I mean let’s face it, original Elune concept was just as the “spirit of the well of eternity” and represented the power of the Moon…and look where we are now.
We discover later Eonar didn’t create the Dream and concept of life, but rather took responsibility of it, similar to how Aman’thul was “in charge” of Time.
In Shadowlands Ysera is mentioned as a creation of Elune, rather than Eonar. This at first seemed odd because Eonar imbued Ysera and made her in charge of protecting the Dream. It made sense after when we discover Elune was the representation of Nature in Life, and the Dream was an equivalent for her as Ardenweald was to the Winter Queen, her sister.
The Dream and cycles of Nature would then come from Elune, or at least she is one of a pantheon in charge (An’she is still a mystery).
Chronicles said Freya created the Emerald Dream, and right now the direction it’s taking seems to be that it was rather created by the First Ones (some recent dev interview implied that iirc), but no, no Elune involved. Elune is connected to the Emerald Dream by virtue of being a Life entity, since the Emerald Dream is a Life realm. As far as we know, that’s pretty much it. Ysera’s connection to Elune also relies on the fact that she took Cenarius under her wing and was a foster mother to him.
And the Emerald Dream is probably not that much of a universal focal point for Druids of all traditions. Nothing indicates that Drusts and Harvest Witches ever tapped into it as a source for their Nature magic abilities, and the Darkspear Druids’ connection to it is limited to the fact that Gonk introduced them to the Dream so that they could worship and subsequently draw power from all Loa at the same time. The Zandalari Druids never even mentioned the Dream once I believe.
Elune is of the Pantheon of Life yet she utilizes Arcane Life Magic not Nature Life Magic…
Incidentally Eonar who bestowed Nature Order Magic to Ysera and just Life Magic to Alexstrasza seems whether accidentally or deliberately to have made her two chosen Dragon Aspects become Galakrond’s opposite when put together.
Galakrond was given Necromantic Death Magic by Yogg-Saron who also created the Emerald Nightmare and it’s unique variety of Magic(distinct from N’Zoth just shoving Void into the Emerald Dream once Yogg-Saron’s Nightmare has been removed) by the way.
In otherwords Eonar indeed should have ties to Druidism and for some reason has ties to Life separate from her Nature Magic(which is Order) in the same way that Yogg-Saron has ties to Death separate from his Nightmare Shadow Magic.
The reason for this is never given though Eonar does have a hiding place called Elunaria…
Elune could have given Eonar some Life Magic which Eonar adjusted to her Nature themed aesthetics(I only say that since Alexstrasza causes Plant Growth when breathing Fire though that does not mean it is infact Nature Magic since it is listed as Fire Magic not Nature) since we already know that Elune’s Life Magic is of the Arcane variety not of the Nature variety.
All of which is true. I’m simply refuting some points on Elune being the center of Druidism. It just isn’t so. Each Druid group has their own way. The only ones that have Elune involved are the Night Elves of course and the Tauren who call her Mu’sha, brother of An’she. The rest have vastly different ways of worship and paths.
Honestly, it sounds increasingly likely to me that the First Ones are actually just the first Order entities ultimately, instead of being the creators of all the cosmic forces in the universe. The Shadowlands always struck me as the Order death system, with all the traditional Order motifs (automatons, high-tech devices, the figure of the Arbiter…). Titan-ish stuff all around. Similarly, Freya and Eonar are really just Nature-flavored Order entities, and so the Emerald Dream is equally rooted in Order, acting as a Life-regulating, Life-containment plane. Clearly it is of a different nature than the untamed Life forces embodied by the Evergrowth on Draenor.
It’s an accumulation of tidbits of information that leads to the idea. There is a lot of quest and chat info we have, mostly from shadowlands, regarding it. I admit There is no 1 text that says Elune is Nature and the Dream (I do think that is coming very very soon though). Here is what we have so far:
We discover and are told Elune is very much the Winter Queen’s counterpart and they are intrinsically linked within the Cycle of Nature of Life and Death: the Winter Queen represented Death and Elune represented Life. Their connection is renewal and rebirth.
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The Emerald Dream is directly linked to the Realm of Life, as Nature’s representation. Ardenweald is it’s opposite for the Realm of Death as Nature’s representation. The Winter Queen has command of the power of Ardenweald as her counterpart would have in the Emerald Dream.
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We discover the Titans were not the first and merely adopted concepts already there. This was a plot in Shadowlands and the book/info from the Brokers also reveals much of what the Titans said or implied was false. They never created from scratch, they simply adopted.
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Ysera and Cenarius, both great beings linked to the Dream, are referred to as having direct links to Elune in one form or another.
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As an extra, Nature ceremonial garbs were even shown not only to have all the nature Loa symbols etched on them, but Elune as well. Zandalari trolls that worship the moon even imply that Elune’s power is even above that of the Loa in Nature, but Zandalari that worship the Loa purely simply haven’t realised it yet.
I don’t want to gang up on you - in fact, when I first saw this, I was gonna challenge it, but I decided not to. It seemed like a minor misunderstanding. But since someone else pointed it out and you are still clinging to it and repeating it….
I do not recall this at all. Ysera is called Elune’s pet, that I do recall. But her creation? That does not seem correct. Where is this stated? Ysera was alive before she was an aspect tied to the dream.
